Chapter 9: Yearning for the Future

Early morning.

Liu Jun opened his eyes, a flicker of awe in his gaze.

Reflection, reading. He had done this countless times in his life. This was the daily routine for a scholar’s cultivation. Previously, Liu Jun’s cloud memory had downloaded all sorts of books—ancient texts, modern works, marine studies... But this night, this one book had provided him with an unprecedented and unique reading experience.

"What a truly distinctive 'Yellow Millet Dream' this has been." Liu Jun smiled.

This world shared some history with his previous life, including the legend of the "Record of the Pillow." In the story, Lu Sheng met the sage Master Lu at an inn in Handan and lamented his poverty. "Gold and silver are but dirt," the sage had said. Master Lu then gave Lu Sheng a porcelain pillow to sleep upon, covering him with a field of energy to induce a vision, all while the innkeeper was busy steaming yellow millet. In his dream, Lu Sheng enjoyed a life of immense wealth and prestige, achieving great success; yet upon waking, the innkeeper’s millet was not even fully cooked. Lu Sheng attained enlightenment overnight and followed the immortal to learn the path. Later generations coined the idiom "a dream of yellow millet" from this tale, which remains one of history’s most famous accounts of a great scholar being blessed by a master to attain longevity.

"It’s a pity. With such a wonderful era for scholars—filled with chivalrous men, sage thinkers, and poetic debates—how did it ever turn into this?"

Liu Jun pulled back the curtains and pushed open the window. Rehe City, known as the "City of Fog," was the same as always, with rain tapping rhythmically against the pane. The vibrant red paper-cuts for the windows, which his parents had pasted up during the New Year when they were still alive, had long since been corroded into ruins by the acid rain.

"The 'Low Intelligence' Amber Butterfly didn't absorb the 'Light and Dust' mushroom; it simply brought it back to its colony. I wonder if it’s incapable of absorption, or if it requires specific conditions?"

"Could it be that only I, as the Fungus Master, can withstand multiple mushroom talents?" Liu Jun pondered.

Truth be told, the gains from this experiment were substantial. Third-tier! He had leaped to a third-tier sapient brain in one go. Was this the talent of a natural-born sage? No, perhaps there was something else mixed in—some power from the mushrooms. Although he was unaware of the classified information regarding natural-born sages, his instincts told him that their cultivation speed was not usually this fast.

Reading through the wind and rain in a single night, only to summon thunder at dawn to slay a thousand. Achieving the third tier overnight was a legend that had only ever been recorded once in ancient history. However, scholars were often idealistic; the act of meditating in a dragon-field or attaining wisdom beneath a bodhi tree—where a single moment of enlightenment surpassed reading ten thousand volumes—was not impossible. Regardless, reading through the night to reach the third tier, this butterfly had truly startled Liu Jun.

***

"The value of 'Low Intelligence' continues to rise."

"However, many talents carry hidden side effects. Perhaps I can continue as I am now: find a test subject to observe within the 'Fungus Soup,' and only extract the talent once it has proven safe."

Through this spiritual reflection, Liu Jun had glimpsed his future path and discovered various uses for the talent mushrooms. He had to keep in mind that every time he reached 100% energy storage, he could choose one out of three talents. This meant that two mushroom talents would always remain in the soup as potential backups. If he couldn't extract them, wouldn't that be a waste? Situations like the Amber Butterfly would likely become more frequent in the future!

What would this structure eventually evolve into, and would there be side effects? Liu Jun didn't know. Were these divine powers descending into the world of the Fungus Soup? What role was he meant to play in all this? Furthermore, in a sense, was the butterfly a god that governed wisdom and bestowed enlightenment upon all things? If the remaining mushrooms eventually gained wisdom, would they also become gods? A God of Light? A God of Wind? A God of Radiation?

And yet, they were clearly just a bunch of cute little mushrooms with (•́へ•́╬) expressions!

Liu Jun chuckled, closed the window, and lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. He gradually calmed his excited thoughts and returned to his normal state.

"This big pot, the Fungus Soup, has infinite potential. If I add more sand, water, and clay, could it become a small, isolated realm?"

"Mushroom farmers always build mushroom rooms, using sand, wheat bran, and other substrates to maintain humidity and light to grow their crops. My approach is exactly the same; a pot of mushroom soup—if I don't put in materials, how can I brew a talent?"

"I could even toss in more ancient existences from human history: the giant butterflies of the Jurassic, the proto-humans of the Ape Age, mummies from ten thousand years ago, ancient emperors from millennia past..."

"It’s a pity that I am too poor, and the management in this world is relatively strict. I live in the city; otherwise, I could steal some soil and matter, evolve mushrooms, and practice mental energy..."

"But for now, the entire pot is just water, with only one floating mushroom dreaming... A brain in a vat, dreaming of the stories of its past life. It’s somewhat pathetic."

He continued to meditate, his thoughts wandering far and wide, considering every possibility. After all, if a person has no dreams, how are they any different from a carbon-crystallized, assembly-line sapient brain? In this world of scholars, even a "brain-dead" person now calculated a hundred steps ahead.

"Although the plan to sell the Amber Butterfly sapient brain might fail, as long as I break into the third tier and step into the Thunder Realm, earning some pocket money through other channels will certainly not be a problem."

He opened the network and began scouring for information, looking for earning opportunities that suited him.

***

Two days passed.

Tremendous changes had occurred within the Fungus Soup. The butterfly's body had grown to the size of a dining table. Its two soft wings wrapped around its body, and it fell into a deep slumber, transforming into a butterfly egg that drifted through the chaotic soup, its aura growing stronger by the day.

Its mental waves grew increasingly intense.

***

Growing inch by inch, it resembled a miraculous egg sleeping in the chaos.

"Could the butterfly be like Lu Sheng in the 'Record of the Pillow,' realizing in its dream that its world is fake, and then, as a scholar-butterfly, attaining enlightenment to split the heavens and earth in this primordial soup?"

Suddenly, Liu Jun's imagination ran wild. This pot of soup truly did resemble the world before the dawn of creation. Now that he no longer had the intention to kill the Amber Butterfly, his perspective naturally shifted to another path.

He checked the soup. The butterfly’s nebula-like wings trembled slightly with each breath. It was lost in a thousand thoughts in its dream, as if the moment it awoke and opened its eyes, it would tear the heavens and earth asunder. The three talent mushrooms in the soup were also wrapped beneath its wings, having turned into three treasures that accompanied it into its dream.

The pity was that while the other three talent mushrooms were powerful, they lacked the "Wisdom" talent and a sapient brain; they were merely dim-witted talent mushrooms. In the dream, the little butterfly was still foolish and straightforward, knowing only how to eat, eat, and eat. But in reality, it was already the most intelligent creature of the Jurassic era. After all, in the age of beasts, who wasn't thinking about eating?

Following the instructions Liu Jun left behind, it completed another trial and obtained the divine artifact, "God’s Wind Ears," granting it the mysterious ability to command wind energy.

Liu Jun specifically glanced at the outrageous official historian.

[Butterfly Era, Year 35: The God’s Trial. The King endured hardships, found the Great Ears. They didn't taste good, but it could hear where the food was. Eat, eat, eat.]

Liu Jun: "..."

Naïve. They were all just a bunch of simple-minded little animals; it was an entire diary of gluttony.

Split the heavens and earth? Perhaps I was overthinking it.

Having completed two major trials in succession, it had become a true hero among the simple-minded butterfly population. A group of simple butterflies lived happily, flying as diligently as bees, carrying countless seeds and planting them everywhere.

The kingdom was expanding. The population was growing. The chronicles Liu Jun had them write had turned into a diary of gluttony; every time he read their history, he inexplicably felt a sense of cuteness.

Furthermore, under the boisterous leadership of the Amber Butterfly, it began to attack delicious dinosaurs to expand its territory. Liu Jun had been prepared for this long ago. He had used the memory cloud drive to download data on the ancient creatures of that era and loaded it into the butterfly's sapient brain, allowing it to perfect its worldview and dream better.

He only hoped that it would attain enlightenment in its dream, gain wisdom through worldly experience, cleanse its heart of all dust, and break through to the legendary fourth-tier Mentalist: the Lightning Realm.

That was, after all, a legendary realm.